First thing you will notice is there are no pictures of me. My back is still messed up and I tried to cast a stick bait but the pain was a little to much for this old fisherman. So with that being said, this is the view the Captain sees most of the day.

In case you are wondering, the round object on the left is a green coconut. (Just one of the many benefits of living in the tropics). It has been husked and put on ice so that the Captain has something refreshing to drink and stays happy even though he can't fish. The yellow water tight Pelican case holds the phones and ID's. The bulging at the top of the image is a life jacket pocket that is held up with a bungee cord, easy access.

Ok now you see what I did all day let's get into some fish.

First up was a very unlucky Barracuda. I say unlucky because here in Fiji we eat them and they taste great. So you know it went to the ice box first aid station.

Things got a bit quiet after the Bluefin, so off we went to a spot that has almost never let us down. The current was ripping around some bommies and there was a little bit of chop on the surface. Perfect for a GT to be hanging out in the eddies waiting for unsuspecting prey.

Rosie fished like a machine, she was unrelenting in her casts. As she scanned the surface of the water, pinpointing the next cast to a position that should hold fish.

Finally after a good long, hard slog, she was rewarded. The strike was hard and fast. The predator was dark in color and came from nowhere. It crashed the popper with an almighty splash. Once the hooks were set the fight was on. Line melted from the Stella as if there was no drag. Of course the drag was preset to 8kg or 17+lbs. Once the fish was off the bommie it was time to bring it home.

Now you would think that by now Rosie had had enough. Oh no, not even close. So what does she do? Adds one more to the list and just to be different, this one is small and full of piss and vinegar. It puts up a hell of a fight and even when it was in the boat it still fought and struggled. In fact we almost did not get a photo as the small GT tried to make a flying leap out of Rosie's arms into the water. Alas I was quick with the camera and here is the photo to prove it.

It is sad and disheartening to hear that people still leave fishing line around.

"The problem is not new — or limited to Prospect Park. Birders in other city and state parks report similar cases. The Ocean Conservancy in Washington points out that monofilament fishing line, which is made from an individual fiber of plastic, has been in use since World War II, and as the decades pass, it has accumulated in the water and on land. For a quarter-century, the conservancy has organized coastal cleanups throughout the world on a single day in September. Over that time, 1,340,114 pieces of discarded fishing line have been collected, according to the group.

“Plastics in general are the most persistent forms of marine debris,” said Nicholas Mallos, a conservation biologist with the conservancy. “Once monofilament line becomes loose in the marine environment, it poses a serious threat.”"

Please remember, do not leave fishing line in the water or on the land, dispose of it properly or recycle it. Talk to your tackle store about line recycling.

Line Recycling

Re spool and RecyclePublic response to Berkley's innovative line and spool recycling program has been remarkable. Since 1990, the Berkley Conservation Institute, with the help of anglers everywhere, has recycled more than 9 million miles worth of fishing line. That's enough line to fill two reels for every angler in America.

And it continues to grow! Retailers and marinas have provided their support by displaying over 17,000 recycling collection bins. Magazines and radio stations have provided public service announcements.

Please continue your support. Pick up discarded fishing line and recycle it by dropping it off in a recycling collection bin, or mail it directly to our collection center at:

The Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program (MRRP) is a statewide effort in Florida to educate the public on the problems caused by monofilament line left in the environment, to encourage recycling through a network of line recycling bins and drop-off locations in Florida , and to conduct volunteer monofilament line cleanup events.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

My how time flies. I have actually not been out on our boat for almost four weeks.

Since my last post the weather turned to crap. I don't mean a little rain and wind, I mean blowing 25 knots for weeks on end and raining like the end of the world. Now I am usually the first to say, fish don't care if it rains, but this weather has been really nasty. We even have "very rough seas" warning put out by the weather people. So, needless to say not a lot of fishing has been done. On top of that I hurt my back,(more of that later).

We did get the chance to go away for a few days as it was Rosies birthday. I booked three nights at Volivoli Resort. I thought it might be romantic if we could do a bit of popper fishing with heavy gear. You know just the two of us and a skipper.

When the boats finally returned and we got to go out, the weather had turned for the worst. Never mind, we are going fishing. Our captain was new to GT popping, but he new where to take us and I could direct the rest. We had a hell of a session. We landed six fish and raised another six in 1 1/2 hours.

This video shows how tough the these fish are. I am using 80lb braid with 120lb twisted leaders and 12kg of drag. By the end os this session I had pinched my sciatic nerve in my lower back. Although I fished the second day also I have paid a heavy price, as I am still laid up with a bad back.

Our second day out fishing proved to be harder than the first. We woke up early on to be greeted by cyclone type conditions.

By noon Rosie and I decided to head to the bar as the weather was not letting up. Well we all know what happens when you go to the bar at noon, you start drinking. And drink we did until after 3:00 pm, when Nick said, "Look the weather is letting up, let's go fish".

So we did. Only this time it was rougher than before. To be honest, it was too rough for fishing in the boat we were in, but we had a few drinks in us and we wanted to fish.

After pounding our way out to the reefs we managed to land a few fish.